Sixty-five people, Turkish citizens and their relatives, were evacuated from the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, Turkey's state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on Thursday.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that more than 100 Turkish citizens were still located in Mariupol and he hoped for a humanitarian ceasefire there, Reuters reported.
In a joint news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Lviv, Cavusoglu said he had proposed a 24-hour ceasefire to be monitored by humanitarian groups.
Ukraine's foreign ministry said on Saturday Russian forces had shelled a mosque in Mariupol, where more than 80 adults and children, including Turks, had taken refuge.
Cavusoglu subsequently said he had sought help from his Russian counterpart on the issue. It was not immediately clear whether the evacuees were those who had sought refuge in the mosque. read more
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan offered in a phone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday to host him and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy for talks, according to his office.
The statement said Erdogan told Putin that agreement on certain issues could require a meeting between the leaders. Erdogan also said a lasting ceasefire could lead the way to a long-term solution, it said.
